Victoria Mary Clarke shared the news of her husband Shane MacGowan’s passing at 65 on November 30th. Despite his struggles with health issues, including a recent hospitalisation for an infection, MacGowan, known for the beloved song “Fairytale Of New York,” fought hard until the end. Clarke described trying various therapies and treatments to support him in his final days, revealing his determination to keep fighting even as his body couldn’t sustain the battle.
‘Losing Shane has been the thing that I feared most for a very long time, almost since we first got together. I just wanted to say that there has been so much love and support from so many people that it’s like being on the Titanic and then finding a life raft. It’s rough, it’s choppy, and it’s freezing and scary, but there is a feeling that safety is not too far away.
Some of the messages and gestures of support have been incredibly moving and unexpected, and I really, really hope that Shane can see how much he is loved by so many people of all ages and kinds. He was a very shy guy who didn’t really share his deepest self with very many people, even though he was also a true humanitarian, and he really loved humanity in a weirdly forgiving way. He was very reluctant to ever judge anyone, and he strongly believed in forgiveness.
He was genuinely uninterested in celebrities, and he respected all people, no matter if they were a taxi driver or a novelist, and he would always want to find out what he could about people. He could be alarmingly authentic, and he definitely sometimes lacked diplomacy! He never walked past a homeless person without stopping for a chat or to give them a decent wad of cash and a cigarette if they wanted one. He never judged anyone with addictions because he understood where they were coming from. He inspired me to open my heart to strangers everywhere we went and to see the beauty in the most unlikely things and people. I am doing my best to focus on all of the many things that he taught me and the blessings that he brought me.
Thank you to everyone who is sharing this love, and I hope that if you are facing a similar situation, you will feel comfort and support, and you will be able to access the grace and gratitude for what you have had together. Both she and Kent-born MacGowan – whose songs were influenced by Irish nationalism, loved the Royal Family, something that she said “people wouldn’t expect.”
“We both enjoyed watching programmes about royalty; we watched a lot of documentaries, obviously the funerals,” she told BBC Radio 4’s Today programme.
He cried when Prince Philip died, he cried when the Queen died, he cried when Diana died, he thought a lot about the Royal Family, but he was an ardent republican.”
She added that he had a “huge love of England and also of Ireland” in what she referred to as a “huge, weird contradiction.”‘
Clarke also expressed a desire to see MacGowan’s iconic Christmas song climb the UK charts again, advocating for its resurgence as Christmas number one.
Following MacGowan’s death, tributes poured in from various artists, with Bruce Springsteen predicting that Shane’s songs would endure for generations. U2 paid homage with a social media post featuring an illustration of MacGowan, while Clarke, in an Instagram post, thanked everyone for their overwhelming support and love during this difficult time.
Her heartfelt message resonated widely, gathering thousands of likes and comments, reflecting the immense impact MacGowan had on people from diverse backgrounds and ages.
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